My car was serviced yesterday by a dealer who shall remain anonymous. When I booked the service I told them I would supply my own oil (Shell Helix Ultra - Fully Synth 5-40). I showed the driver who collected the car the 8 litres of oil in the boot and I also phoned the service manager to remind him to use my oil which was in the boot.
Imagine my suprise when I went to put my bag in the boot at the end of the day and found my 8 litres of Helix intact!

I phoned them this morning to ask what kind of oil they put in and the service manager told me they'd used Castrol Magnatec Semi Synthetic (and tried to sell me the spiel about it being better because it sticks to the engine better when it's cold). He offered to let me keep the oil or they could come and collect the car and change it for my own.

What should I do? I've now got more than 11 litres of spare Helix in my garage and I can't use any of it for topping up!

How carefully does the system need to be flushed before putting a different oil type in?

 

keep the oil for next time, the castrol will be fine IMO

 

I'd leave it until the next service.

 

Hmm, I'm not too keen on spending MORE money on oil just so I'm able to keep it topped up over the next 9000 miles. What with the oil and the price of optimax being 92p a litre I managed to spend over

 

Personally I would have them change it, as when it comes to top up I wouldnt want to mix. Plus it is what you requested. I would also check they didnt charge for the oil they put in.

AFAIK you dont need to flush the system, just empty it and refill it.

Although as above, i doubt it will do much harm if you care to leave it.

 

How much do you think you'll need to top it up though?
You can probably talk the dealer into giving you a litre free, on top of not charging for the oil they used in the service anyway.

 

[QUOTE=Bonce,Apr 5 2005, 10:31 AM] Hmm, I'm not too keen on spending MORE money on oil just so I'm able to keep it topped up over the next 9000 miles. What with the oil and the price of optimax being 92p a litre I managed to spend over

 

Tell them the situation, and ask them for a couple of litres of top-up free to last you until the next service.

 

Over 9000 miles? Probably more than four litres!

 

Having recently swopped from Shell Helix Ultra to Magnatec, i feel i should comment here.
My car likes a drop of oil for sure but when using Magnatec a slight drink now and again has turned into a full on bender, since my last service it's used approx 3-4 ltrs
Compared with the 1-2 of the Shell.

I take it this is down to the full synthetic vs semi, so next service i'll be going back to a fully synth, Motul 8100 5w-40